ROYAL CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL VOL. XLVI JULY-OCTOBER 1959 PART a & IV Principal Contents OFFICERS AND COUNCIL 194 IN MEMORIAM 195 THE MUSLIM REPUBLICS OF THE USS.R. 200 TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA By Dr. Inva Gersuevircn 213 ANNUAL MEETING 26 BRITAIN AND THE ARABS ‘By Lirur-Genrrat Sim Joun Gruss, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.0., M.C. 232 ANNUAL DINNER 242 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEAR‘ IN _ CEYLON, INDIA AND ON THE BORDERS OF TIBET By H.R.H. Prince Peer or Greece anp DENMARK, LLD., G.CR., R-E., CBM.) 254 LE TIBET ET LA CHINE By ELLs MAILLART 264 CEYLON By B. H. Farmer am REVIEWS 281 a : PUBLISHED BY Niedersachsix THE ROYAL WG@BN: ” ASIAN SOCIETY tt aneh os ingen. sy iTRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA By DR. ILYA GERSHEVITCH Report of a lecture delivered to the Royal Central Asian Society on Wednesday, April 8, 1959, Mr. Wilfrid Scager in the chair. The Cutainman: It is my very pleasant duty to introduce Dr. Iya Gershevitch, Lecturer in Iranian Studies at Cambridge University. Three years ago, he and Mrs. Gershevitch spent some months in South Persia in the Makran, a quarter of the globe which is even less known than the ‘lost quarter” of Arabia. I have been to Bandar Abbas to the West of the Makran, and to areas to the North and East of it Apart from Dr. Gershevitch, however, there have been few travellers who have been to those parts of Persia about which our lecturer is to speak this afternoon. He went particularly to study the ancient Iranian dialects still spoken in the area, and he has both maps and slides to show us, It is with the very greatest pleasure that T now call on Dr. Gershevitch. zone and investigate the dialects of Bashakard, of which nothing was known, came to us rather suddenly in Teheran during the cold February of 1956. At that time we had not read Dr. A. Gabriel’s account of his journey through Bashkakard," nor his remark that the region is “the most ill-famed of the Shah’s dominion on account of the hostility of its inhabitants.”? In Teheran no information whatever was available about conditions in that remote corner of Iran, but through the kind efforts of His Excellency $. H. Taqizadeh and Dr. E. Yarshater permission was obtained to visit the area, and instructions were wired to the gendarmerie of Bandar Abbas to offer us any assistance we might need. Equipped with an odd assortment of clothes—to meet climatic con- ditions that seemed to be anybody's guess—as well as with a tape-recorder and plenty of paper and pencils, we travelled by rail to Ahwaz, and em- barked at Abadan on the oil tug on which we were to sail, through the kindness of Mr. M. Homayoun Pour, as guests of the Iranian Oil Com- pany. Four days later, as a result of an exceptionally violent gale, we were literally thrown ashore at Bandar Abbas. Mr. Mohamed E, Gel- ladary, a prominent citizen of the town, offered us generous hospitality and help in preparing the expedition. ‘The chief of gendarmerie of Bandar Abbas, under whose jurisdiction Bashakard lies, insisted that we should accept an armed escort, and provided transport as far as the hamlet of Kariyan, some 16 miles south-east of Minab. From there, over a period of more than three months, our only means of conveyance were donkeys and occasional camels. Our itinerary across the largely unsurveyed wilderness of Bashakard was decided upon at Minab—which is easily the most charming and un- spoilt town we saw in Persia—in consultation with the one resident Bash- kardi, an exiled chief, who could be traced in the town at that time. From him I collected my first information on some of the Bashkard dialects. 213 D: ILYA GERSHEVITCH: The urge to enter the subtropical214 TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA Both he and the natives we were to meet later, usually referred to their country as Bashkards of this name the Persian form Bashikard appears to be merely an Arabic plural.’ In a narrow sense the term Bashkard applies only to the inland region you see on the map to the south of the Marz range. The name is, however, often used, except by the natives of the additional regions concerned, to include also areas north of the Marz range, extending as far as Maniijan to the north-west, and Rameshk to the east. To distinguish this comprehensive meaning from the restricted one which more properly attaches to the name Bashkard, it is convenient to refer to it by a diflerent term; Bashkardia, the classicizing name I have invented for this pospose, is longer than Bashkard by about as much as the region we shall understand by it exceeds Bashkard proper. We may then describe the limits of Bashkardia as follows: in the west the region is bounded by the district of Ridan and the coastal strip known as Biya- ban; this strip, which is inhabited by Baluchis, bends round the southern boundary of Bashkardia and merges in the solid bloc of Persian Balu- chistan, which limits our region in the east; in the desert area north of a line joining Rameshk to Maniijan, Riidbari tribes lead a nomadic existence. Few explorers have penetrated into the heart of Bashkard. In 1876 E. A. Floyer, coming from Jask, visited Angohran, Sardisht, Shahrbavek, Jaghdan, Darpahn, and Senderk.* Fifty years later Dr. and Mrs. Gabriel saw the same places, except Shahrbavek, and explored in addition the direct route from Darpahn to Angohran. Finally Dr. J. V. Harrison in 19323 reached Garahven from Jask,* and in 1937 made a thrust north of Angohran as far as Shahkahin, across the western spurs of the Marz range.® We seem to be the first Europeans on record to have seen the Biverch district north-west of Angohrin and the area situated between Angohran and Garahven, and to have crossed the central and highest part of the Marz range on the direct route from Angohran to Marz, in order to follow from there the caravan routes which respectively lead to Rameshk and Manajan. Rameshk, according to Gabriel,” had not been visited by Europeans since 1898, when Sir Percy Sykes was the first to see it. Up to Angohrin and on our trip into Biverch we enjoyed the company of a courageous French art-photographer, Mme. Antoinette Perrier; her time- table compelled her to return to Minab on her own, with an armed escort, via Marz and Maniijin; she was thus unable to go with us to the remote south-eastern part of Bashkard, and to Rameshk. TE we covered more ground than our predecessors, this was due partly to the impossibility of ascertaining the distribution of the local dialects without visiting their speakers in situ, and partly to our having been re- lieved of all preoccupations regarding our safety. We spent a total of 105 days (March 26 to July 19) in and around Bashkardia, while Floyer and the Gabriels each only had about three weeks to explore the country. In their days Bashkardia was a dangerous region to travel in. By now the gendarmerie have requisitioned all rifles they could lay hands on, and in- stances of armed raids, for which the Bashkardis used to be notorious, have become rare. The linguistic pursuit in which I was engaged amused and flattered the natives, and enabled us to converse and live with them on friendly terms.TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA 215 In the short time at my disposal today no detailed account can be given of what we saw and heard on our journey, the itinerary of which is marked on the map; but I shall try to convey to you a few impressions of the country, its inhabitants, and their way of life. To the south of the Marz range the view from any height is one of desolate grandeur. Valleys and mountains are closely packed together, and the vast panorama of bare hill tops suggests 2 moonscape (picture 1). Dr. Harrison, a geologist, describes the mountains as “ basin shaped or syn- clinical, their solid structure being hidden under a litter of harsh angular sandstone blocks loosely set in sand and dust.” Stratification and erosion have created the weirdest rock-shapes, including some which resemble man-made fortresses. The rocks provide a remarkable range of colours in the morning and afternoon sun: from white to a beautiful green, from a greenish-blue to violet, from dark violet to black. Such contrasting colour schemes offer ample compensation for the dreary precipices, and river-beds choked with boulders, along which we were carried by donkeys such as we had never seen. Their agility, endurance, and intelligence are beyond praise. Floyer described them as “‘preternaturally active,” and suspected that they were a cross between monkeys and ibexes.* Their line is an ancient one if we are to believe Onesicritus, according to whom in the fourth century B.c. the donkeys of our area were used in lieu of war horses? The region in Carmania which Ptolemy calls Kanthoniké, “donkey-land,” is very likely Bashkard.*° A well-groomed Bashkard rid- ing-donkey lives largely on dates, and richly deserves every handful of them. Such rugged country involves the traveller in continuous ascent and descent. Valleys across his path usually mean considerable diversions from the chosen direction, as they have to be followed until a pass is found by which the next valley can be reached. Thus even distances that are short as the crow flies, take a long time to cover. The inspection of the whole of Bashkard would require a much longer stay than even we could afford. The mountain passes and defiles leading up to them are bleak, except for a few shrubs and odd clusters of sage, or an occasional wild almond tree. ‘The broader valleys, which in spring mostly consist of semi-dry, gravel-covered river-beds, are pleasantly dotted with tamarisks and the beautiful poisonous oleander. Along the terraces flanking them, and the lower hill slopes, various shrubs and grasses grow, of which the donkey and camel drivers deftly pick armfuls in passing, to administer to their charges at the next halt. Everywhere, except high up, the dwarf-palm (pish) is seen, from whose oblong leaves mats and baskets are plaited and ropes twisted, while the heart of the stalk provides a cherished vegetable. The flora has been expertly listed by Gabriel, The fauna includes fox, jackal, hyena, porcupine, bear, and leopard or panther (Persian palang). The last is known to the natives by the ancient Iranian name of the wolf (verkh, vorkh). Though we did not meet the creature itself, we saw foot- prints of it in the sand, larger than saucers. Poisonous snakes are com- ean most families have been bereaved of some members through snake ites.vidyyxmsvd BvAIL 8h dyows9 “hh Nematd 9h nerwnd sh RLYWW chk WYAMHIS “th NYHUAHVS *th N3YOMBV “Ih wstyVd Pon Quvonv» ‘on AVISWOS “bE SIomnws 3tuys - ee NLawoay “LE NOHwDHON “AL NeGuyy St HY ABWd OnE Bywsyd “tt TNW)VIIE “TE wasnva vie ave ot dying “ut BRAVE 8 Sawr-oryma LT NvOYS 2% 1a 3syw ais NIABAND3S AsvaHNS avauva NOANTT Oz 1yNOR Nemtow Misenys otvwid meen LISYN LaNoTNOD35 N38 "se a et Uw “We ot al 2 uw wninavs * Nox$y OVLN ES Bv9-LS0d HYAIS2V9, Ags avd MBACRUHVS A5VANDH ZVMISUMS Lunya Le ras ane TFauNGrs AB O9aV>10N! SaNvN IVI 04 IW GF NYIS¥3ad I> 07" nye agveTRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA 27 After a long ride through such wilderness the appearance of a culti- vated oasis provides welcome relief. Here date-palm gardens stand, periodically flooded from mud-dammed canals or hollowed-out tree trunks, Nearby are small plots of wheat or maize, often disposed on ter- races. Vegetables grown in small quantitics include beans, onions, garlic, and pepper; among occasional fruit trees we noticed oranges, pomegran- ates, apples, figs, mulberries, and grapes. Along the irrigation canals pep- permint grows, and where the water supply is ample the jag tree (Dal- eTEHERAN VSPAKAN 7 Yeo MILES (. BANDAR ABBAS 2. Mivke 3. MANGIAN 4. KAHNGS gs. RAmMESK 6. JASK bergia sissoo, Roxb.) rises to impressive heights; it was worth going to Bashkardia if only to discover that this is the tree whose teak-like timber was known in the days of Darius the Great as yakd, and exported from the Karman province to Khuzistan for building purposes." The cultiva- tion is, of course, much reduced in the many oases that subsist on a mere trickle of water, which is collected behind a small dam and thriftily led to one plot at a time. The cultivated oasis is called by the natives shahr, which amuses Per-218 TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA sians, to whom this word means “town.” The term shahr does not in- clude the dwelling sites of the cultivators, which are usually removed from it at distances varying from a few hundred yards to several miles. Throughout Bashkard the only type of dwelling is the so-called bee-hive hut, whose native name is Jahar. Its frame is built by thrusting into the ground two parallel rows of date stems, and joining with pish string the sticks that face each other, in such a way that the resulting arches are progressively lower the further they stand from the middle. ‘The arches are then connected by horizontal and transverse date stems which run along the sides and the top. Once the frame is ready it is covered with pish mats. The shape of these huts, as can be seen at least dimly on pic- ture 2, resembles an egg cut lengthwise. The side mats can be raised to let in light and fresh air, see picture 3. It is rare to find more than ten Jahar-s on any one site, but often the cultivators of a particular shahr or group of shahr-s are distributed over several dwelling sites, which may be quite far from each other. The sites are more aptly described as camps than villages. When a community attends to different shahr-s the practice is to change camping ground in accord- ance with the task in hand; moreover, in winter, when the land rests and the valleys are flooded, many communities move with their flocks to higher altitudes. Whenever a move is decided on, the covering mats of the Jahar-s are rolled up, and the frames taken to pieces; date stems and mats are loaded on donkeys and transferred to the new site, where new frames are quickly erected The dakar is thus in principle a tent, with pish mats replacing the usual felt or canvas; its use reflects a semi-nomadic attitude to dwelling. Never- theless there are sites which seem to have become permanent. ‘This is notably the case at Angohran, the so-called capital of Bashkard, which consists of ten groups of Jahar-s totalling more than one hundred; they are disposed on terraces over a wide floor which is formed by the meeting of three valleys. Even the forty gendarmes of the garrison of Angohrin camp in /ahar-s, and the residence of Shahverdi Khan, chief of all Bash- kardis, is a fenced-off compound containing two stately Jahar-s and a few smaller ones for his dependants and slaves. The fort of Angohran also belongs to the Khan, but has long been in ruins (see picture 4); it was said to have been built a hundred years before our arrival by his great- grandfather Alahverdi Khan, father of the famous “ guest-murderer” Seif-Ollah Khan. North of the Marz range the landscape changes only gradually. The Marz district at the foot of the range is hemmed in to the north by an imposing parallel range, the Band-e Sefid, As one leaves the district the hills, although decreasing in height, remain rugged and precipitous until one reaches Jevel ground beyond Sargari™* to the north-west, or emerges to the north-east in the desert (li#2) which belongs to the depression of the Jaz Miriyan. In this latter tract, at Gwanchin and Rameshk, the Iahar, which in the Marz region is still ubiquitous, has given way to a more permanent hut, round and domed, called s#p'* (see picture 5). The dome is covered with pish branches which are held together by a net made of pish ropes. The circular wall is a lattice made of reeds and date stems,TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA 219 which is sometimes covered on the outside with mats, sometimes wholly or partly coated with mud; in the latter case a solid two-leaved door made of carved jag wood is fitted to the entrance. The sup thus closely re- sembles the Mongolian yurt!? While lahar-s are grouped even at An- gohran in small units, each of which is well separated from the others, the ¢izp-s of Rameshk, nearly one hundred in number, are dotted all over a mote or less circular area of little more than a quarter of a square mile, Beside za#p-s Rameshk also counts several kavar-s, flat-roofed kiosks consisting of a square wooden frame which is covered, lightly at the sides, with pish branches, As they admit plenty of air these door-less shelters (sce picture 6) are well suited for social gatherings or collective naps when the sun is high. In Bashkard proper we came across only one Aavar, but north-west of the Marz range and in Radan this type of dwelling is fairly common. A similar structure, bearing an older form of the same name, Aapar, is found in Bandar Abbas, and according to Mr. P. W. Avery® even west of Kazarun. The name is connected with an ancient root mean- ing “to cover.” Before riding from Manijan to Minab on the last lap of our return journey, we were taken by a gendarmerie jeep to Kahniyj, the capital of Radbar, where we spent a few days trying to get hold of and interview Radbari tribesmen. Both at Manijin and Kahniij we made use of an air-conditioned dwelling known as adir-band or khar-khana. It consists of a wooden frame similar to that of the kavar, but completely encased, except for the entrance, in a large tumulus-shaped heap of camel-thorn (ahagi, local name adiir). ‘The heap is surrounded by a ditch, from which a slave spends the hot days throwing water on the camel-thorn with a bowl. The fast evaporation produces a substantial drop of temperature inside the shelter. This type of summer hut is used also elsewhere in the Karman province. We too, like the Gabriels, were told that the refresh- ing property of wet adiir was discovered in Baluchistan by Nader Shah’s secretary Mirza Mehdi Khan, who had been ordered by his master to provide cool shelters on the way to India. To return to Bashkard proper, despite the profusion of stone, little use is made of it for building purposes, Angohran has two small stone-built mosques, one at the foot of the fortified hill, the other on the top. Neither of them has minarets, but the latter carries instead two turrets, each of which is topped by a bottle. Otherwise, apart from walls supporting ter- races for cultivation, the only common stone structures are small, square chambers for storing dates, and round enclosures for graves. The former are called kat, a word which existed with the meaning “ store-room” already in Achamenian times. Measuring about six feet in height they sometimes stand free, but more often are built against the mountain side, as in picture 7. After the date harvest the fruit is packed in pish bags, which are then trampled until the dates form a solid brown mass. Once the bags have been stored the low doorway of the kat is closed with a jag door against which stones are piled. The circular stone walls, each of which encloses three to six graves, are about three to four fect high. They are said to have the purpose of pre- venting animals from desecrating the graves. This explanation, however,220 TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA conflicts with the presence in some of them of a low doorway, as if to admit such animals as cannot jump walls. We were told at Kahnaj that such enclosures are also found in Ridbar. The population seems to consist mainly of three racial types: Semitic, negroid, and a type which according t0 Gabriel has affinities with the natives of Australia or the South Sea islands. Socially Gabriel’s distinc- tion of four classes still holds good: Khans, minor chiefs, freemen, and slaves. It is difficult to tell how far the social and racial distinctions are linked, except that members of ruling families often look Semitic, and negroids are usually slaves. ‘The freemen are, according to Gabriel, free subjects who pay taxes and till their own land; they were described to me as “gentlemen ” (aga). In the Bashkardi dialects they are called balitch- kara, a compound in which ara is an obsolete word meaning “ people.” Early Muslim writers usually mention the Baliich in one breath with their foes, the Kiich or Kiifich, whose home has been surmised to have been Bashkardia. Nevertheless, in the class name dalich-kara the reference is hardly to Baluchis; for when used alone the word balich, as distinct from Baliichi, has no ethnical connotation in the dialects of Bashkard, but simply means “shepherd.” This meaning agrees with the description of the Baliich as “ herdsmen” in a tenth-century Persian text. Elsewhere in Iran a similar semantic development affected at an early period the Kurds, whose name in Fars came to mean “nomad.” Bashkardis of lower rank respectfully kiss the hands of their superiors on meeting them. Distinguished guests are made to sit on mats on arrival, so as to form a circle with the host and any local men who happen to be about. Tea is brewed, and a water-pipe filled and lit. The host takes the first puffs and hands the pipe to the chief guest; thereafter it changes hands in order of seniority. Women never join such circles, but an excep- tion was made for my wife, The Bashkardi women merely watch the procedure from the nearest Jahar, or huddled together in the open a few yards way. When they are among themselves, however, the women, too, are not averse to the water-pipe (see picture 5). There was no difficulty in my talking to women out of doors, or in lahar-s belonging to ordinary Bashkardis; but the /ahar-s which serve as women’s quarters of chiefs were usually accessible only to my wife. The majority of women go about open-faced, but wives of rank wear a mask, both indoors and on the rare occasions when they go out, The mask is embroidered all over with red and orange silk, has wide slits for the eyes, and ends above the mouth. A midrib stands out one inch over its full height, producing an odd, insect-like profile. Masks are also worn in Minab and Bandar Abbas, but there they generally cover the mouth, are black and unadorned, and have less protruding midribs; they make the women look more sinister than their colourful Bashkard equivalents. The mask is tied behind the head over a veil which covers a bonnet trimmed with braid (see picture 8). The dress, made of cotton or muslin, has very wide bat-wing sleeves. It is usually black, and elaborately em- broidered at the front and shoulders in red, orange, green, violet, and a little white, The three-pronged motif which is visible on picture 8, is a re- current clement in the pattern of the embroidery. At Angohran my wife’sTRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA 221 offer to buy a dress and a mask, brought to light many worn-out speci- mens which had been kept inside goat-skins and padlocked saucepans, until the daughter of the Khiin came to our rescue and generously sold us her own well-preserved outfit. The dress reaches below the knees, showing the bottom of narrow, green or red silk trousers trimmed with braid at the ankles. The hair falls down the back in two braids, whose ends are either held together by a broach, or jointly passed through a rhombic silver ring, three inches long. In addition, three or four shorter rings, each with a slight bulge round the middle, are strung on either braid above the junction. To the front hair, combed straight from the parting to the cars, a gluey paste is applied, which consists of rice boiled for a long time, and rubbed between two stones until it is perfectly smooth. Before the paste hardens a gold ribbon is stuck to the edge of the hair along the forehead and parting. The teeth are painted black with a compound varnish; its main in- gredient is rust, which the women carefully scrape from spades made wet for the purpose. In the ear-holes my wife counted up to cight holes; pic- ture 8 shows what kind of ornaments are fastened to these. Four holes are pierced through the nose: one through the septum, for rings; the second and third each through one of the wings, for broaches; the fourth from above the tip into one of the nostrils, for rings to stand up as on picture 8. Noses thus pierced can serve as pin-cushions. It was discon- certing at first to converse with women whose noses were spiked with threaded needles. The attire of men is simple. ‘They wear either a long coloured loin- cloth, or the black trousers peculiar to the country. The latter are extra- ordinarily wide, cach leg measuring five yards across. This mass of cloth is gathered on to the hips by a cord, which is passed through the turned- down hem at the top of the trousers (sec picture 2). As the men gallop on their fast donkeys the trouser-legs, being wide open at the bottom, swell with air, and fluiter like the gowns of fast-cycling undergraduates at Cam- bridge. ‘The shirt is worn outside the trousers or loin-cloth. It may be black or white; in the latter case it is sometimes heavily embroidered with white thread. The traditional head-gear is either a turban, or an em- broidered cap, or both, the turban being wound round the head in such a way as to enclose the cap. The foot-wear of men and women alike con- sists of pish-woven sandals; these cover the sole only, and are tied to the foot by strings passing behind the heel and between the first and second, and third and fourth toe (see picture 9). The staple foods of the Bashkardis are dates, curds, and bread. The last is made afresh for each meal, and only as much corn is ground at a time as is required for the occasion. The dough is beaten by hand into a flat round shape, and cooked on an iron disc which rests on three stones surrounding a small fire. To leaven the dough, which is not usually done, curds are added, north of the Marz range also dried camel dung dissolved in water. Meat is eaten infrequently, although most communities keep goats, some also sheep and cows. The chickens are remarkably lean; to protect them from jackals they are kept at night in baskets hanging from a post,222 TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA sec picture 3. Game has become rare after the requisitioning of rifles. Some Bashkardi men are, however, so nimble-footed as to be able to run after wild sheep or ibexes and kill them with the knife. Rice and tobacco are luxuries imported from Minab or Jask; the only part of Bashkardia where both are grown is Rameshk, Other imports in- clude tea, sugar, cloth, lockable saucepans which can be used as safes, and aluminium bowls for drawing water. Drinking water is kept in goat- skins, which either rest on low wooden stands, or hang from a post, or a crossbar supported by two posts; they are shaded by mats, so that the water remains quite cool (see picture 3). Earthenware is almost exclu- sively confined to the water-pipes, which come from Minab; the smoke passes into and out of the water through two reeds on which local designs are carved. Matches are common only at Angohrin. Usually fire is struck from flint, and a date-log is set smouldering for days, from which the occupants of the camp help themselves to fire as required. While the men attend to the cultivation, the main tasks of the women consist of grinding corn, making bread, preparing curds, fetching water, and plaiting mats. The long, fibery pish leaves are halved along the stem, and plaited’ with astonishing skill and speed to form well-made and ser- viceable mats, This is the chief industry of the country, Once every few weeks the spare mats are loaded on donkeys, and taken to Jask or Minab for sale. Rugs are rare. The few we saw had more or less the same design : a white square in the middle, surrounded by alternating red and white bands of a simple, geometrical pattern, on a black background. Experi- enced carpet-dealers in Isfahan, to whom we showed the rug we had brought back, had not seen this pattern before, and were disappointed that we would not sell them the rug, even at a good price. Saddle-bags are woven from goat-hair, and the better ones have a characteristic woven-in pattern of red and white wool. When not used on the backs of donkeys, they are kept as wardrobes inside the Jahar's. The Bashkardis are Shiites, and their cultural background is entirely Islamic. Unlike their Baluchi neighbours they have no ballads or epic poems in which memories of the past are related, and we came across very few good story-tellers, or even good stories. The dialects are Iranian throughout; wherever outside Iran any racial group in Bashkardia may ultimately hail from, its members have evidently long forgotten their original speech, The southern vernaculars differ greatly from the northern ones; each of the two dialect groups is historically most interesting, and occupies a unique position among the Iranian languages. To Persians all forms of Bashkard speech are largely incomprehensible, but most natives understand Persian, The music we heard in Bashkardia is of considerable interest. Some songs, and tunes that are played on a solo flute, are entirely European in character, unlike any folk-music we heard elsewhere in Persia or on our way through Turkey. The Gabriels, too, heard a flute tune which re- minded them of a song out of “Tristan.” A more Islamic type of song is the popular kordi, which the Biyabini Baluchis also sing to the accom- paniment of a flute. Its long tune has as wide a range as a tenor voiceTRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA 223 can span, and is repeated many times with increasingly complicated modulations. We recorded as much music as my requirements of specch- recording would permit. To end this necessarily selective account of the peculiarities of Bash- kardia, I may mention certain stone-heaps called renz, the significance of which seems to have escaped previous travellers. In southern Bashkard such rena-s as we met were invariably situated singly on mountain passes, and the height of the heaps varied between four and six feet. It was ex- plained to us that in former times “justice” was rendered by ambush- ing the offender in a mountain pass, tying him in a kneeling position, covering him with stones, and leaving him there to die. Although we heard the story repeatedly from different people in different places, we could not make the obvious test, as it proved impossible to persuade our donkey drivers and gendarmes to stop long enough on any mountain pass to dismantle a renz. North of the Marz range the word renz denotes a much smaller pile of stones, which clearly serves as a mere landmark, and is not confined to mountain passes. Yet even there we were assured that south of the range the renz used to be an instrument of lynch-law. There is thus reason to think that this tradition is genuine, the more so as it is supported by the likely eeymnology of the word renz. In early Islamic times there was a custom known as rajm, which is defined as “a ritual stoning as a punishment for fornication.”* By postulating an inter- mediate form *ranj it is easy to derive the Bashkard word renz from the Arabic rajm, since j after n has become z also in the Bashkard word for “tice,” Berens, which in Persian is Berenj. Moreover, in support of what we learned from our Bashkardi friends, Professor Minorsky tells me that when he travelled in Kurdistan before the First World War, he, too, came across piles of stones on mountain passes, each of which was believed by the Kurds to contain a stoned person, a rajim. (Dr. Gershevitch concluded his talk by showing a number of excellent colour slides taken by Mrs. Gershevitch, illustrating the colourfulness of the area and its peoples.) ‘The Cuamman: I can remember seeing the donkeys which have been mentioned in Bandar Abbas. People used to be very proud of them, and they were extremely beautiful. ‘Are the slaves children of other slaves, or are they brought in from across the sea? Dr. Gersuevircn: The negro slaves must have been imported in pre- vious generations, because they all speak the native dialects perfectly and have no other language. The slaves that are not negroes were captured in internal wars of by-gone days, or are descendants of prisoners. In Gabriel’s days a slave could still be exchanged for a rifle. To buy a slave nowadays is an expensive luxury. We were offered one for 2,000 tomans, that is about £100, or twice the cost of a camel, which speaks rather well for the man. They seem to have no desire to run away. When we tried to tempt them they did not see why they should not go on being owned. Apparently this does not expose them to much inconvenience. Mr. Grantam: Is the country connected to the railway from India into Persia? Is there any connection by caravan?224 TRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA The Carman: That is considerably north to the country of which we have been speaking. Mr. Ectrton: Are any of the people literate? Dr, Gersuevircn: Mullahs are found in some villages. The chiefs are generally literate, but ordinary people are not. Colonel Ortenar: How effective is the administration of the central Government? Dr. Gersuevitcr': The only signs of Government administration we noticed consist of a number of gendarmerie posts. We counted six on our route, at Darpahn, Jaghdan, Angohran, Marz, Geshmiran, and Maniijan. They are manned by three to six gendarmes each, except at Angohran and Manijan, where the garrisons are more substantial. There are no public services of any kind. However, if two Bashkardis have a legal quarrel, instead of taking out knives or covering cach other with renz-s, they nowadays tend to go to the gendarmerie chief of Angohran and let him settle the matter. There is some form of taxation which the chiefs pay, but I gathered that it is collected rather haphazardly. No tax-col- lector is very keen on entering Bashkardia. Unfortunately 1 am not quite clear about the year in which the gen- darmerie took possession of the country. We were told in Bandar Abbas that the occupation took place three years before our arrival. I accepted this at the time and never inquired again, but now 1 wonder whether it may not have been a matter of reoccupation, or consolidation of a few posts already in existence. It should not be difficult to ascertain the date from the gendarmerie headquarters in Teheran. Mrs, H. Jou Cook : Is trade conducted in money or animals? Dr. Gersuevitcn: In money. We bought all our things with small cash, which we carried with us. Miss Kexty: Were these small carpets and mats woven? Dr. Gersuevircu: I do not know if “‘ woven” would be the word, although the natives use their verb for “weaving” in both cases. The mats are plaited. The rugs are knotted. Miss Kexuy: Are they done locally by local women? Dr. Gerstevircn: Yes, but in the case of rugs only in very few in- accessible mountain villages. Most people have no rugs or carpets. They sit and sleep on mats. The Cuarrman: I am afraid that we do not have any more time. Thank you very much, REFERENCES 2 A. Gabriel, Im weltfernen Orient (1929), pp. 80 sq. ? A. Gabriel, Die Erforschung Penis ogee ee * The origin of the name Bashkard is obscure, cf. W. Eilers, Archiv Orientélnt, 24 (1956), p. 187, and Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 31d ed., col. 876 (where a connection with the name of the ancient Asagarta tribe is suggested). + Floyer's journey through Bashkard is described in his book Unexplored Balu- chistan (1882). ® See Geographical Journal, 194%, pp. 1 « The route Dr. Harrison took Lagy becsiae known to me after our return to England, from an unpublished map drawn by him and gencrously placed at my dis- posal, on his kind suggestion, by the British Petroleum Company Limited. AmongTRAVELS IN BASHKARDIA 225 the places located by Dr. Harrison whose exact position is not to be found on any other map, are Ashkon, Beshnii, Shahkahan, and Garahven, which were also stages on our route. Having entered Dr. Harrison's location of these places on my own map, I was able to locate on it with closer approximation than would otherwise have been possible, some of the other hitherto unknown or ill-defined places through which we passed, * Die Erforschung Persiens, p. 250. * Op. cit., p. 199. » Strabo, XV, 2, 15 °°'See W. Tomaschek, Topographische Erliuterung der Kiistenfahrt Nearchs (Sit- zungsber. d. Wiener Akad. d. Wiss., 121, 1890), P. 43. "T Sce Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies sqq., and XXI (1958), p. 174/7- "a The # of Sargard and tip sounds like a long French « or German é. 2 See the fourth picture taken by Group-Captain Smallwood, above, after p. 26. 8 See Royal Central Asian Journal, 1957, p. 191. “4 Sec H. W. Bailey, Transactions of the Philological Society, 1954, pp. 146 sqq [The Afghan-Persian name for a temporary shelter of branches or straw, chapar, appears to be a variant of Rapar; cf. Klaus Ferdinand, Preliminary Notes on Hazara Culture (Hist. Filos. Medd. Dan. Vid. Selsk. 37, No. 5, 1959), p- 28-] See V. Minorsky, Hudiid al-'dlam, pp. 124, 374 on the Balch, and Actes du XXe Congrés International des Orientalistes, pp. 144 sq- on the Kurds. Professor Minorsky has pointed out to me that the formation of the classname baliich-Rara has a parallel in the name of the Kurdish tribe of the Shaban-kara (literally “ shep- herd-people”), cf. Encyclopedia of Islam, sv. The suggestion that the Kich lived in Bashkardia is due to W. Tomaschek, Zur historischen Topographic von Persien (Sitzungsber. d. Wiener Akad. d. Wiss., 102, 1882), pp. 189 59. See Encyclopaedia of Islam, sv. radjm. IX (1957), PP- 317Photo by Mrs. L, Gershevitch. 2. AN OLD BASHKARDI STANDING ON A MAT AT DARKAH. “LAHARS” ARE VISIBL IN THE BACKGROUND, TO HIS LEFT AND RIGHT. Photo by Mrs. L. Gershevitch, 3. ON A CAMPING GROUND AT GARAHVEN. THE SIDE-MATS OF THE “ LAHARS ” ARE RAISED. A SHADED BASKET FOR CHICKENS HANGS FROM A POST, LARGE BASKETS FOR GRAIN STAND ON THE GROUND. IN FRONT, ON THE RIGHT, WATER-SKINS SHADED BY A MAT HANG FROM A CROSSBAR WHICH RESTS ON TWO POSTS. To face p. 224Photo by Mrs. L, Gershevitch. 5: 4 “Bp” AT GWANCHAN. WOMEN SITTING ON A MAT AND SMOKING ‘THE WATER-PIPE, Photo by Mrs. L. Gershevitch. 6. 4“ KAVAR” AT RAMESHK, WITH A DoMED “TOP” IN THE BACKGROUND, and PART OF ANOTHER ON THE RIGHT.Photo by Mrs. L. Gershevitch, 9. GOOD COMPANY AT KANGARO.